Firstly though, apologies for no reviews from my outbound. I just simply didn't take enough notes during the trips (LHR-LAX-AKL) to warrant a review of their own!
Secondly, apologies also for the late arrival of this one. Not that I expect people were itching to read it but I like to reel them off quickly after arrival but I've been a busy man.
I was in New Zealand for three weeks, sticking only to the North Island. My first few days were spent in Auckland adjusting to the time zone and de-jetlagging. Surprisingly, this did not prove overly difficult, even with a +13 hour time change after 26 hours of travelling. I flew out on the VS23, which is the late afternoon departure. After a few hours layover in LAX, my second leg was the NZ5, which was the later departure in the evening. By the time this flight was departing, I was so tired I slept almost the whole flight, and thus by the time I arrived in New Zealand, my sleep pattern was somewhat repaired!
Auckland is a nice city, although a word of warning to anyone heading to this part of the world - New Zealand has little to no ozone layer. If it's sunny out, put on suncream or face the wrath of the sun! Whilst out exploring during Christmas Day, I neglected to put any on and suffered the consequences.
View of Auckland from my apartment balconyAfter three days I picked up my campervan - a "Spaceship" - to begin my tour of the North.
My moving home! “Genesis Ark”You may (or may not) be surprised to hear that even with 16 days in a campervan you can barely scratch the surface of New Zealand. But I wanted to cover as much ground as I could.
My journey took me to the Northernmost point in New Zealand, which was very scenic and treated me to my own private beach for around an hour:
Walking only 20 minutes off the beaten track rewarded me with a beach to myself for an hour!After sampling the beaches of the North I headed back down south, past Auckland toward the centre of the island. For a week or so the weather turned a little sour and treated me to a lot of rain and endless showers. The only upside to this was the thick cloud cover provided a bit of refuge from the relentless sun. I took the opportunity to head to Whakapapa National Park, where there is a 3 hour hike to the Tama Lakes, next to Mt. Ngauruhoe, apparently used for the Mt. Doom scenes in Lord of the Rings!
Mt. NgauruhoeI got as far south as Masterton, where the bad weather scuppered a lot of my hikes. So instead I chose to break from my itinerary and head to the Eastern coast and the city of Napier. It was nice to experience some civilisation again after nearly a week in rural locations!
Napier seafrontMy final act of the trip was to return to the Kakaho campsite where I spent New Year. The sun had returned so there was one last chance for a long hike, this time up one of the many hills in the area. I must have climbed well over 1,000 steps but was eventually awarded with a lovely view from the top.
Mt. Ngauruhoe as seen from 50 miles away!Final day
My rental car was due back in Auckland at 4pm, with my flight out of AKL at a mere one minute to midnight, 11:59pm.
Before returning the car though I had a couple of last minute stops to make, a trip to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, and a second visit to Cambridge near Hamilton. Being from around the Cambridge area myself, and having visited the counterpart in Massachusetts, I paid a visit to the third Cambridge settlement on the planet, so I could complete the list!!
It was a fairly melancholy drive back up north, having effectively lived in my van for the two and a half weeks prior, it was going to be a sad goodbye. I had done all of my packing the previous night so there was ample time to get back to Auckland.
And so with my final visits out of the way, I made it back to the Spaceship Rental Centre pretty much right on time. Couldn't have judged it better! I took an Uber back to the city, specifically the Carmen Jones restaurant on Karangahape Rd where I spent my first evening in town. It seemed fitting to spend my last one there too.
To AKL!
There is a very helpful airport transfer called the SkyBus which picks up and drops off every 10 minutes between the airport and the centre of the city. I aimed to get a 7pm transfer so left the restaurant about 15 minutes before.
In NZ it seemed as though almost everywhere accepted cards. Even street-side market stalls had "We accept EFTPOS!" signs stuck to them. But did the Skybus take them? The driver said Nope. How awkward!
Fortunately with the next bus only ten minutes later, I had time to fire up my phone and purchase a ticket on their website just in time for the next one to arrive. I showed the driver my boarding pass and off I went. Goodbye, Auckland, until next time.
The journey took a swift half an hour and the bus drops off right outside the International Terminal.
Check-in
Unsurprisingly NZ are the major player at AKL, and utilise Zone A. They have also recently finished constructing a dedicated Premium check-in area. According to the VS website, as Virgin Gold I would be permitted to utilise the business class check-in desks, which were presumably in said new building.
Air New Zealand Premium Check-in facilityTo my surprise though, Premium Economy passengers were also permitted to use this new area, which evaporated any worries I had of being rejected at the business desks and sent away in shame. The area is accented with purple moodlighting, akin to VS!
I went through the sliding glass door only to find that I was the only passenger in the area, and was met by the eyes of four NZ staff waiting for others to come through! I'm afraid due to this attention I didn't get any more pictures of the inside, but it was a very good looking area, with white walls and more purple moodlighting. There were two check-in desks, but only one in use. I handed over my two cases to the friendly check-in lady, who also quoted me an upgrade price of $1,900 to Business, around £1,000. Far beyond my budget for just a single sector. I politely declined.
I took the opportunity to enquire about my eligibility to use the NZ Lounge. According to the VS website, lounge access is permitted for Gold card holders when travelling on the codeshare routes, namely AKL-PVG and AKL-SFO. There was a lot of back-and-forth between the check-in lady and the lounge staff, who couldn't seem to provide a definitive answer. She recommended I go to the lounge itself to ask there.
And with that, she checked my bags straight through to LHR without the need to pick them back up again at Shanghai. Similar to the Upper Class check-in at LHR, the Premium check-in area has a dedicated lift to take passengers up to the premium security area.
Security was quick, though my carry-on bag was flagged for inspection for a reason that was never explained. I went through the Duty Free quagmire in search of the lounge I hoped to use.
Seeking sanctuary
The Air New Zealand lounge is quite discreetly tucked away in the corner of the departure area, up a flight of stairs. The exterior was warm and welcoming. I relayed my quandary to the girl manning the front desk, and she seemed a little stumped by the situation so opted to call for her supervisor. The supervisor was also a little uncertain, so she herself had to scurry away to check the policies, despite me being armed with the "Gold card holder benefits on partner airlines" page on my phone. Which way would Caesar's thumb point? As it turns out, in my favour!
As I headed in and gathered my bearings, the supervisor approached me again to apologise for the confusion and to ask if she could take a photocopy of my Gold card for future reference. Apparently they only see three or four VS Golds a year so we were quite the rarity in this part of the world... understandably! She also mentioned that had she not been there to make the final judgement it is likely I would have been turned away.
So, what to make of the ANZ lounge? A very nice area was my first impression. The windows had some excellent views of the tarmac, and the whole area seemed to have that Virgin-esque vibe to it, with good use of mood lighting, some interesting decor and some "defined" areas, such as a cinema room, private rooms, a kiddies play area, a bar area, and so on.
My first proper port of call though was a shower. As you can imagine, two and a half weeks on the road camping does not provide the usual creature comforts of home.
The shower rooms themselves were very nicely done featuring Antipodes products, which were new to me, and a shower head actually inside the ceiling rather than hanging down. It felt like standing under a waterfall. To say it was refreshing was a considerable understatement!
Bliss...Time to wait
After exiting the shower, Google informed me of a 1 hour delay to the flight, with the new departure being 00:59. Strangely though, the departure boards in the lounge and the ANZ website disagreed with this. After checking at the front desk they also said that there was no delay. So I suppose Google's advice is to be taken with a handful of salt!
I decided to investigate the lounge food options. All options were self-serve, so no table service. There was a good spread of food options though, both hot and cold, so I opted for some Chicken Saltimboca with Polenta Fries and broccoli.
Yum yumThe food was very nice and certainly hit the spot. I decided that I would whittle the hours away in the cinema room, but not before grabbing a "Rum Ricky" from the bar. The bar was well stocked with all manner of drinks, all apparently on the house. The cocktail was refreshing though very strong and very sweet. I perched up on one of the seats in the cinema, armed with some rocky road and my book. The tennis proved a nice bit of background noise.
Cinema RoomBoarding time
I was quite relieved that this was an international departures only lounge, as I can imagine with the high number of domestic flights NZ operate across the country, domestic passengers would really crowd the place. Such as it was though, during my evening stay the lounge never felt especially crowded, except around the food area which understandably had a high amount of traffic.
Needless to say the lounge's quietest moments came shortly before my flight, with London and Tokyo being called in the hour or so before mine. The lounge was very much on nightshift mode. With departure at 23:59, I was surprised that the first call for boarding didn't arrive until 23:35, and so off I went to Gate 10, which was apparently a ten minute walk away. I thanked the lounge staff for their help and headed down the escalator.
The departures area is clearly very much under construction, with temporary partitions all around, but not to the point where it felt like a building site. I arrived at Gate 10 with nobody else around, but a single check-in lady who called over to me to ask if I was going to Shanghai. I said yes, to which I was informed that I was the last one left to board!! Did I really take that long to get there from the lounge? Apparently they had to call the lounge to ask if I had left! How very embarrassing.
Fortunately though I was not late so the crew were welcoming!
The NZ 787-9s are very Economy-heavy in their layout. The Premium Economy cabin is very small, only three rows, behind a six-row business class cabin, and so I was lucky enough to be able to "turn left" into PE! I was sat in 25F, a middle aisle seat in the back row. The seats are in a 2-3-2 configuration.
Premium Economy CabinA very intimate cabin indeed. Though from my understanding NZ are fitting their newest 789s with larger business and PE cabins. The NZ PE seats are the most generous of their kind of terms of leg room, coming in at 41 inches. The seat width was the industry standard 19 inches. Waiting for me on the seat was a pillow, amenity kit, water and blanket. In the seatback pocket were a pair of slippers! It looks though that I had missed the menu due to my lateness. I was able to grab one from one of the crew in the galley. The miniature PE cabin was full.
The aircraft, ZK-NZK, was delivered in December 2016 and in good shape.
My seat, 25FHaere rā, New Zealand
Pushback came at 23:56. Whilst there was no confirmation of flight time from the flight deck, the IFE system stated that we'd be in Shanghai in 11 hours, 15 minutes. As we taxied to the runway I noticed there were no air vents at all. It seems I would have to rely on the crew to maintain a sensible air temperature, I always seem to get far too warm on flights.
We taxied for ten minutes or so, which ended with a rolling takeoff at 00:07 in the dark as the cabin lights were dimmed.
As the cabin lights came back on I browsed the IFE. The screen was a really good size and was nice and responsive. The crew on this leg were noticeably younger than those who took care of me on the aforementioned LAX-AKL leg. I was offered Champagne, Orange Juice or Water while I browsed the menu, which looked good. I was also referred to by name which was a really nice touch - though I wondered if this was because I was the latecomer and had been looked up on the manifest!!
I took an OJ, which tasted nice and fresh, as if it had been squeezed on the plane itself! I settled down to watch the rest of The Informer with Matt Damon, of which I managed to watch all but 15 minutes on my previous leg into NZ. The passenger in front of me decided to settle down and recline too, though the generous 41" of legroom was thankfully not impeded.
A very late dinner
Dinner service started at 00:40 (NZ time). Shanghai is 3 hours behind, so I suspect they wanted to adjust people to their destination. The first round of drinks were served at the same time, and I opted for my usual Rum and Diet Coke.
Air New Zealand Premium Economy Menu
Today's choices...The starter looked appetising and the presentation was good. I opted for the garlic bread to accompany my starter. Like Delta, ANZ also seem to like placing the dessert on the tray right at the very beginning. Resisting it for the duration of the meal is not an easy feat if you ask me.
Sichuan spiced beef fillet with garlic breadMy early impressions were justified as the starter was very nice. However my earlier eatings from the lounge were still knocking about and so I was already feeling full with my main still to come...
On that note, my choice of main was the Dim Sum selection. If I'm going to be in China for a few hours, I may as well get used to it, right? It looked like I wasn't the only one interested in this option, it proved popular!
The selection was really good, but my goodness it was heavy. As much as I hate wasting food I just couldn't finish it. The second stomach kicked in for dessert though…
Dim Sum Main and my dessertAttempts at sleep
The cabin lights were dimmed for the night hours at 2am. Feeling utterly stuffed I hoped I would be able to sleep easily. My "falling asleep on a plane" music playlist did help a little, and I was able to sleep for around an hour. By this point we were in the middle of nowhere, northeast of Queensland.
Unfortunately my wishes for the cabin to remain cool didn't materialise, and I had a small sweat going on. That being said, I am often far too hot on planes. The IFE system had a handy little feature that allowed you to send a message to the crew.
Alas, my requests for a reduction in the temperature went unanswered and so I thought I would find someone. No luck on that front either, the cabin was apparently at the mandated 21 degrees, so I opted for a glass of water to try and cool down. It helped a little bit...
At this point I should mention the toilets. I really like them! The toilets of both the 787 and 777s I had been in had wallpaper, facial towels and a nice quiet radio playing. As well as touch-free taps in the 787. All in all, a very pleasant experience and a nice personal touch.
After coming out and passing the bored looking cabin crew member, I returned to my seat to try and catch up on a little more sleep. I managed to do so, again with the aid of my playlist for the next few hours. After my next batch of sleep the IFE was showing our arrival time as 6:12am which was nearly an hour early. We must have had a strong tailwind or some other favourable condition. Alas, this meant that my layover was going to be almost six hours rather than the anticipated four and a half.
Nearly there
With a couple of hours remaining the cabin lights slowly began to come back on. I reluctantly refused the offer of breakfast, deciding instead to listen to the advice of my stomach. Instead I opted for a cup of tea which was gratefully received.
After breakfast service was complete I had a chance to chat with the cabin crew serving PE. Apparently NZ have three crew bases, New Zealand, the UK and China. This lady was part of the China base. We spoke a little about my connection and she mentioned that 10 out of the 21 in PE were transferring onto the VS251 to London, with several others transferring on to domestic flights within China on China Eastern (surprising as MU is in SkyTeam, I would have expected CA to be the connection partner as they are the Star Alliance carrier in PVG, but alas).
At around 5:30am (now operating on Shanghai time) the announcement came that we would soon be beginning our descent. It was going to be a chilly morning of a mere zero degrees. Quite a considerable contrast to the 20+ days in New Zealand.
As per my outbound on the VS23 three weeks prior, I definitely felt very refreshed. I think the remarks about the improved air quality on the dreamliners is very true and in my experiences I have felt it every time.
We turned around to approach PVG from the South. We must have hit some winds as there was a lot of wobble on the final approach. There was nothing to see out of the window as it was still night time with quite a lot of low clouds. We finally hit the ground at 6:17am, around 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Despite the wobbling on approach the landing was actually quite smooth. We taxied for around ten minutes before arriving at Terminal 2, Gate 67, in between Air Asia X and ANA.
In my initial research into PVG, Terminal 2 seems to cater for so many different carriers and it was great to see the many different tailfins from airlines around the world.
We deplaned through L2 and thanks to the cabin layout this meant that PE was off first! Despite comments from the crew, I ventured onto the jetway in just a t-shirt, keen for the whip of cold air after being stuck on the warm dreamliner for 11 hours!! I yearned for the fresh air and it was quite refreshing. Besides, we would only be "outside" for as long as it took to walk into the terminal building.
The long corridors of PVG...And so my long wait at Pudong International was to begin. The transfer process was an interesting one, but I'll include that in Part 2!
Farewell!For the curious, I have a backlog of a few TRs, they are:
VS251 PVG-LHR (Premium)
VS11 LHR-BOS (Economy)
DL58 BOS-LHR (Comfort+)
Thanks for reading.
